This full day tour provides an opportunity to explore the extensive topography of Berlin’s Jewish history. The immense influence of Jewish protagonists on the cultural history of Berlin and Germany becomes clear.
This extensive tour takes you to the most important places in Berlin’s Jewish past and present. The history of the Jewish community goes back to 1671. Before the Second World War and the devastation of the Nazis, it was the largest Jewish community in Germany. After reunification, it began to flourish again and is now one of the most dynamic and fastest growing in the world!
As you hear about moving personal stories, visit museums as well as monuments, this area comes alive in your mind’s eye and the immense influence of Jewish life on the cultural history of Berlin and Germany can be seen. The memorial sites and places of Jewish life are numerous and this full-day tour offers the opportunity to explore the entire topography of Berlin’s Jewish history.
Some of the central sights are the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial), the Jewish Museum with the spectacular architecture of Daniel Libeskind, the Memorial “Gleis 17” or the large Jewish cemeteries in Berlin – for example on Schönhauser Allee, where the famous painter Max Liebermann is buried.
One focus of the tour is the Spandau suburb, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Berlin. City history condenses here in a confined space, at the same time it is wonderful to stroll. The lifestyle district around the remarkable Hackesche Höfe offers charming boutiques, hip cafés and trendy galleries, but this was once the epicenter of Jewish life in Berlin. The Kiez is home to the location of the first synagogue in Berlin, the restored New Synagogue, Otto Weidt’s former workshop for the blind, the home of the world’s first rabbi, and the Grosse Hamburger Strasse with the city’s oldest Jewish cemetery, the Jewish high school and the memorial at the former Jewish nursing home.
